گفتگو روزنامه نیشن پاکستان

‎‎ The Nation: Supreme Leader and President regard Pak-Iran ties as ‎the top priority and have directed the foreign ministry to work on achieving the goal, a ‎senior Iranian official said.‎

Dr Mohammed Ajam, minister counsellor of the Iranian foreign ministry, told The Nation ‎that Tehran was making all efforts to remove misunderstandings between the two ‎Muslim-majority nations.‎ ‎“We believe Pakistan is under the US pressure not to come too close to ‎Iran. Pakistan should not link Pak-Iran ties to Pak-US relations. Pakistan is a sovereign ‎country and can have equally good ties with several countries,” he maintained. He ‎said: “Iran and Pakistan share interests. If and when our leadership is invited to ‎visit Pakistan , we will not delay it (the visit). The rehbar (the Supreme Leader) and the ‎president think Iran-Pakistan ties should be the top priority. We always work to retain ‎friendship with Pakistan . This is in accordance with the directions of the ‎top leadership .”‎ On Friday, President Rouhani, who is on a visit to India, urged all Muslims to set aside ‎internal disputes. “Iran wants unity, independence and support for the East. The ‎enemies of Islam want to represent Islam as a religion of violence. Islam is not a ‎religion of violence. Islam is a religion of moderation, Islam is a religion of kindness,” ‎he said.‎ Pakistan has lifted sanctions against Iran after the country’s nuclear deal with world ‎powers. In 2016, Pakistan was active to ease Iran-Saudi Arabia tensions after the latter ‎executed 47 people on terrorism charges including Nimr al-Nimr, a Shia religious ‎leader, and Fares Al-Shuwail Al-Zahrani, a convicted Al-Qaeda leader.‎ Nimr’s execution had spurred Iranian demonstrators into ransacking the Saudi ‎embassy in Tehran, prompting several Saudi allies to break off diplomatic ties with Iran.‎ Pakistan and Iran are hoping to complete the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project soon to ‎resolve Pakistan’s energy crisis. The IP pipeline project – also called Peace Pipeline – ‎is aimed at constructing a pipeline from Iran’s South Pars fields in the Persian Gulf ‎to Pakistan’s major cities of Karachi and Multan.‎ The pipeline can carry 110 million cubic meters of gas a day. Iran will initially transfer ‎‎۳۰ million cubic meters of gas per day to Pakistan , but will eventually increase the gas ‎transfer to 60 million cubic meters per day.‎ Pakistan and Iran are economic partners. This cooperation lasted throughout the cold ‎war, with Iran supporting Pakistan in its conflicts with arch-rival, India. In ‎return, Pakistan supported Iran militarily during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s. ‎ Recent difficulties have included disputes over trade and political position. ‎While Pakistan ‘s foreign policy maintains balanced relations with Saudi Arabia, the ‎United States, and the European Union, Iran tends to warn against it and raised ‎concerns about Pakistan’s alleged backing of the Taliban during the fourth phase of ‎civil war in Afghanistan in the last years of the 20th century. Iran was concerned after ‎former army chief Raheel Sharif’s appointment as the head of the Saudi Arabia-led ‎military alliance but Islamabad assured Tehran that the coalition was not anti-Iran. ‎ Iran has been a respected, popular, and favoured nation among Pakistanis, with 76 ‎percent of Pakistanis viewing their western neighbour positively, making Pakistan the ‎most pro-Iran nation in the world. ‎ Dr Mohammed Ajam said that Iran and Pakistan had hosted millions of Afghan ‎refugees and must try to resolve the Afghanistan issue together.‎ ‎“There are around three million Afghans living in Iran. More than half of them are ‎illegal. We have been deporting thousands of Afghans annually who enter illegally ‎and start working here,” he said.‎ Dr Ajam said that misunderstandings between Iran and Pakistan exist but “they can be ‎removed with sincere efforts. Out leadership is for unbreakable friendship ‎with Pakistan . Senior official says Khamenei, Rouhani regard bilateral ties top priority‎ Iranian

” February 17, 2018‎‏. ‏‏۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰۰‏ Rouhani reiterates Iran’s commitment .‎ Dr Mohammed Ajam told The Nation that President Rouhani’s offer to go to the ‎referendum on important issues was a big announcement and a ‘shock’ for the rivals.‎ TEHRAN: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani yesterday said that the ‘new ‎conspiracies’ by the United States to divide the Iranian nation had miserably failed.‎ Speaking to journalists here, after leading a massive rally to mark the country’s 39th ‎anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, Rouhani said big rallies across Iran were a ‎‎‘response’ to the US.‎ ‎“The conspiracies of the Zionists have been given a response by the nation. The ‎unprecedented participation by the people in the rallies proves this nation cannot be ‎divided,” he said.‎ President Rouhani joined the millions of people in Azadi (independence) Street who ‎were marking the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution.‎ Earlier, addressing the event, President Rouhani said referendum can be held to settle ‎key disputes between the various parties in Iran . He called upon various political ‎groups to refer to the Article 59 of Iranconstitution ‎on the disputed issues.‎ The Article says that the legislature on certain important social, economic, cultural and ‎political issues can be offered to public vote, he said. ‎ The President said if the two political wings disagree on a certain issue, “there is no ‎need to dispute or promote, the solution is ballot box”. He added: “This is one of the ‎capacities of Iran’s constitution which should be addressed.”‎ The Article 59 of Iran’s constitution reads: “In extremely important economic, political, ‎social, and cultural matters, the functions of the legislature may be exercised ‎through ‎direct recourse to popular vote through a referendum. Any request for such direct ‎recourse to public opinion must ‎be approved by two-thirds of members of the Islamic ‎Consultative Assembly (parliament).‎”‎ The day of Imam Khomeini’s return to Iran from exile (February 1, 1979) marks the ‎beginning of the Ten-Day Dawn in ceremonies which culminate with the anniversary ‎of the victory of the Islamic Revolution on February 11, 1979.‎ Iranian people had toppled the US-backed Raza Shah Pahlavi regime 39 years ago, ‎ending 2,500 years of absolute monarchy in the country.‎ But the Iranian President reiterated that Tehran was committed to its obligations under ‎the nuclear deal reached between Iran and G5+1 (US, UK, Russia, China, France plus ‎Germany) in 2015.‎ ‎“Our nation is committed to its obligations till the time that the other side is bound to its ‎obligations but if they aim to exit, they will be harmed,” he said in his address.‎ He said the US was conspiring against Iran by supporting unrests. “Our people said no ‎to them and deterred the Americans’ conspiracy by elevating their unity and solidarity,” ‎he said. ‎ He welcomed the UN General Assembly’s opposition to the US bid against Palestine ‎and said: “They wanted to declare Holy Quds as the capital of Zionist regime but the ‎world stood against this conspiracy.”‎ The President underlined resisting foreign or possible domestic pressures in a bid to ‎reform the structure of country’s economy.‎ He said the government was committed to fight air pollution in big cities, dust pollution ‎in some border provinces and also draught in cooperation with the regional countries.‎ President Rouhani referred to the progress made in the country in various fields saying ‎that, for the first time, Iran was recovering more oil from the joint oil fields with Qatar, ‎south of Iran .‎ Elaborating on the government achievements, he said that Iran’s gas production from ‎the joint gas fields with Qatar in South Pars has increased from 285 mcm to 553 mcm. ‎ Minister Counselor of the Iranian foreign ministry Dr Mohammed Ajam told The ‎Nation that President Rouhani’s offer to go to the referendum on important issues was ‎a big announcement and a ‘shock’ for the rivals.‎ ‎ “For the first time after 40 years from revolution a high official like President Rouhani ‎said we should solve all important issue through referendum,” he said.‎ Dr Ajam said normalization of relation with the US and also issues like Hijab (cover) of ‎women are very sensitive issues between reformists and the hardliners,” he added. He ‎said several reformists had welcomed the President’s speech. ‎ He said under article 59 vital economic, political, social, and cultural issues can be ‎referred to the people through referendum or reference to direct public vote. ‎ ‎“The request to appeal to public votes must be approved by two-thirds of the entire ‎representatives of the assembly,”Dr Ajam explained.‎